Security Levels

March

Daily Chronology of Coast Guard History

1 March

1876-Nuova Ottavia, an Italian vessel, grounded near the Jones
Hill North Carolina Life-Saving Station. The rescue attempt by the
crew of that station resulted in the loss of seven surfmen, the first
deaths in the line of duty since the service began using paid crews in
1870. Among the dead was African-American Surfman Jeremiah Munden,
the first African-American surfman to die in the line of duty.

1902-The first regular light stations in Alaska were established at
Southeast Five Finger Island and at Sentinel Island. Both were on
the main inside passage between Wrangell Strait and Skagway.

1927-The U.S. Lighthouse Service put into effect a system of
broadcasting radio weather reports by four lightships stationed along
the Pacific Coast.

1933-In the interest of administrative economy and efficiency, the
13th and 14th Lighthouse Districts were consolidated with the 15th
Lighthouse District. Also, the aids to navigation on the entire
Mississippi River system were placed in charge of a civilian lighthouse
engineer as superintendent. This relieved the Army engineers
detailed for that duty. The offices at Rock Island, Illinois and
Cincinnati, Ohio were discontinued and all the river work was placed
under a single office at St. Louis, Missouri.

1975-The Coast Guard issued regulations that became effective on 1
March 1975 that required an emergency position indicating radio beacon
(EPIRB) on small passenger vessels engaged in ocean and coastwise service.

1977-The Coast Guard began enforcement of the Fishery Conservation
and Management Act with 19 cutters and 17 aircraft patrolling within the
200-mile Fishery Conservation Zone.

2003-Administrative control of the Coast Guard transferred to the
newly created Department of Homeland Security from the Department of
Transportation, where it had served since 1 April 1967.

2015-Her Majesty’s Canadian Ships Goose Bay and
Shawinigan, in collaboration with the U.S. Navy and in support of the
U.S. Coast Guard, assisted in seizing more than 1000 kg of
cocaine while patrolling in the Caribbean Sea, as part of Operation
CARIBBE. Following the initial search of a suspect vessel by a boarding team
from USS Kauffman, HMCS Goose Bay was tasked to
conduct an additional inspection. A subsequent boarding and search of
the suspect vessel by the USCG LEDET embarked with HMCS Goose Bay, supported by
HMCS Shawinigan, resulted in the seizure of 1017 kg of cocaine.

2015-CGC Alex Haley returned to
Kodiak, Alaska, following a successful 70-day deployment
patrolling more than 10,800 miles throughout the Bering Sea and Aleutian
Islands. Alex Haley, the “Bulldog of the Bering,” departed Kodiak on
1 December 2014 and spent 70 days conducting law enforcement and
community outreach operations in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands.
During the deployment, Alex Haley’s crew performed 41 at sea domestic
fisheries enforcement boardings and covered more than 5,000 square miles
in search efforts for the sunken Korean fishing vessel 501 Oryong.

2015-CGC Waesche returned to homeport at Coast Guard Island
in Alameda following a 79-day, 13,000 nautical-mile patrol in the
Eastern Pacific Ocean. Since its departure on 12 December 2014,
Waesche patrolled international waters off the coast of Central
America, disrupting Transnational Organized Crime networks through joint
inter-agency counter-drug operations, seizing nearly 1,400 lbs of
cocaine with an estimated value of more than $22 million. During
the last four weeks of its deployment, crewmembers aboard Waesche
spent time off the coast of San Diego completing rigorous proficiency
exercises geared toward sharpening the unit's readiness to conduct the
many operations that are vital to the Coast Guard's military, homeland
defense, and law enforcement missions. Many of these exercises included
helicopter operations, gunnery, shipboard firefighting and damage
control, and medical training. Additionally, they practiced national
defense scenarios to ensure seamless integration with partners from the
Department of Defense.

2 March

1792-Congress authorized the revenue cutters to fire on merchant
ships that refused to "bring to."

1799-Congress authorized revenue cutter officers to board all ships
of the United States within four leagues of the U.S., if bound for the
U.S. and then search and examine them, certifying manifest, sealing
hatches and remaining on board until they arrived in port. They
were also authorized to search ships of other nations in United States'
waters and "perform such other duties for the collection and
security of the Revenue" as directed by the Secretary of the
Treasury.

1799-Congress authorized cutters and boats to be "distinguished
from other vessels by an ensign and pendant" with the marks thereon
prescribed by the President of the United States, to fire on vessels who
refused to bring to after the pendant and ensign had been hoisted and a
gun fired as a signal, masters to be indemnified from any penalties or
actions for damages for so doing, and be admitted to bail if any one is
killed or wounded by such firing. On August 1, 1799, Secretary
Oliver Wolcott, Jr., prescribed that the " ensign and pennant’’
should consist of "Sixteen perpendicular stripes, alternate red and
white, the union of the ensign to be the arms of the United States in
dark blue on a white field." There were sixteen states in the Union
at that time.

1799-Congress authorized the President to sell cutters unfit
for service and the Secretary of Treasury to apply an unexpended balance
of proceeds in the purchase and construction of revenue cutters. (This
authority was revoked March 3, 1845).

1807-Congress passed the "Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves"
(2 Stat. 426) on this date in 1807. The act outlawed the importation of slaves into the
United States. It went into effect on 1 January 1808. The Revenue Marine enforced the law on the
high seas.

1868-By Act of Congress (15 Stat. L., 249), the
Lighthouse Board was "authorized, when in their judgment, it is
deemed necessary, to place a light-vessel, or other suitable warning of
danger, on or over any wreck or temporary obstruction to the entrance of
any harbor, or in the channel or fairway of any bay or sound."

1889-Congress authorized the Secretary of Treasury to keep
rivers clear to afford marine species access to their spawning grounds.

1978-Mexican authorities requested Coast Guard assistance after
severe rainstorms caused significant flooding in Baja. Two HH-3Fs
from AIRSTA San Diego began evacuating people for Ensenada. An
HC-130 from AIRSTA San Francisco and a third HH-3F from San Diego joined
the flood relief operations. As of 8 March, Coast Guard aviation
units had flown 59 sorties and 77 flight hours, transported 349 persons
to safety and delivered 74,600 lbs. of relief supplies in operations
covering Ensenada, Tijuana, Santa Ynes, San Quintin, Punta Colnett,
Camalu, Guadlupe, El Rosario and La Mission. Through the Mexican
Secretary of Defense and the Governor of Baja California, the President
of Mexico relayed his personal appreciation and that of the Mexican
people to all Coast Guard personnel involved.

2015-CGC Diligence returned to its homeport of Wilmington,
North Carolina, following a 46-day patrol in the Caribbean Sea and
Atlantic Ocean. During the patrol, Diligence was diverted to
conduct a search and rescue mission of four Italian sailors aboard the
30-foot sailing vessel Algeria, which became disabled off the
Coast of Panama. The four sailors had been underway on the Algeria for
more than a month navigating from Italy to Costa Rica when the vessel
became disabled. Diligence traveled more than 175 miles to Algeria’s location and then towed the sailing vessel to safety in Chiriqui Grande, Panama. During the patrol, the crew aboard Diligence conducted search and
rescue operations off the coast of Panama, drug interdiction operations
in the vicinity of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and
alien migrant interdiction operations in the Straits of Florida. Diligence patrolled in support of the Joint Interagency Task Force
South’s Operation Martillo in the Western Caribbean Sea from Honduras to
Columbia.

3 March

1819- Congress authorized the revenue cutters to protect
merchant vessels of United States against piracy and to seize vessels
engaged in slave trade. The cutters Louisiana and Alabama
were built shortly thereafter to assist in the government's efforts
against piracy.

1837-An Act of Congress (5 Stat. L., 181, 185) laid down certain
restrictions, by providing that the construction of the large number of
new lighthouses, lightships, etc., for which this law was appropriating
the necessary funds, would not be begun until examined by Board of Navy
Commissioners. They reported to Congress those cases where the
"navigation is so inconsiderable as not to justify the proposed
works." The Navy detailed 22 officers to this duty and, before the
end of the year, their recommendations resulted in the deferment of the
construction of 31 lighthouses already appropriated for.

1839-Congress directed that Revenue Captain Ezekial Jones,
commanding the revenue cutter Washington in the Seminole War, be
allowed the same pay as a lieutenant in the Navy would receive for like
services.

1845-Congress authorized the President to appoint six engineers
(later amplified by Act of February 4, 1863) and six assistant
engineers, one of each to be assigned to each revenue steamer then in
the service. Engineers were to receive the same pay as first
lieutenants and assistant engineers the same pay as third lieutenants.

1845-Congress directed no person be appointed as a revenue
cutter officer "who does not adduce competent proof of proficiency
and skill in navigation and seamanship." This was the first
official underway qualifications established for the service.

1845-The duties of the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury as
Superintendent of Lights was first put on a statutory basis by an Act of
Congress (5 Stat. L., 752. 762), which prescribed that "the Fifth
Auditor of the Treasury, shall continue to superintend the several
matters and things connected with the light-houses, beacons, buoys, and
public piers, as heretofore, of the United States, and to perform all
the duties connected therewith, under the direction of the Secretary of
the Treasury, until otherwise ordered by law."

1847-Congress appropriated $5000 "for furnishing lighthouses on
the Atlantic Coast with means of rendering assistance to shipwrecked
mariners." This was the first federal appropriation for rendering
assistance to the shipwrecked from shore.

1849-The Office of Commissioner of Customs was created.
The local Collectors took over control of the revenue cutters within
their jurisdictions.

1859-An Act of Congress (11 Stat. L., 423, 424) authorized the
Lighthouse Board to use its own discretion in the discontinuance as
necessary of such lighthouses as might become useless by reason of
changes in commerce, alteration in channels, or other causes.

1873-Signal Corps of Army established a storm signal service for
benefit of seafaring men, at several life-saving stations and
constructed telegraph lines as a means of communication between the
stations.

1875-Secretary of the Treasury was authorized by Congress to
acquire by donation or purchase the right to use and acquire sites for life
saving and life boat stations.

1885-Congress authorized Secretary of the Treasury to detail officers
and men of Revenue Marine Service to duty under the commissioner of Fish
and Fisheries Division of the Bureau of Fisheries when they could be
spared for such duty.

1899-An Act of Congress (30 Stat. L., 1121, 1152) required
that, whenever a vessel, raft, or other craft was wrecked and sunk in a
navigable channel, it became the duty of the owner to immediately mark
the sunken craft with a suitable buoy or beacon during the day and a
lighted lantern at night. Previously, the Lighthouse Establishment
had been authorized by Congress to place, when considered necessary, a
lightship or other suitable warning of danger on any wreck or temporary
obstruction to the entrance of any harbor or in the channel of any bay
or sound.

1905-Congress authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to
acquire a suitable site in the state of Maryland upon which to establish
a depot for the Revenue Cutter Service; this station became
the Coast Guard Yard.

1915-An Act of Congress (38 Stat. L., 926, 928) provided for
cooperation between the Lighthouse Service and the Forest Service in the
management of the forest land on lighthouse reservations.

1918-By Act of Congress (38 Stat. L., 928), the protection
afforded the aids to navigation maintained by the United States
government was extended to those established and operated by private
individuals.

1947-The SS Oakey S. Alexander reported
being in distress 22 miles east of Portland, Maine, with a hatch stove
in and shipping water. CGC Cowslip immediately proceeded on orders
from Portland to assist. When she began breaking up, the ship's
commanding officer decided to beach at Cape Elizabeth. Cowslip
arrived on the scene but was unable to approach the beached vessel
because of heavy seas. All 32 crewmembers, however, were removed
safely from the ship by Coast Guardsmen from the Cape Elizabeth Light
and Lifeboat Station using a breeches buoy.

4 March

1907-Congress appropriated $30,000 for installing wireless
telegraphs on not more than 12 revenue cutters. USRC Algonquin
as the first cutter fitted with the new technology with money
appropriated from this act.

1915-Secretary of the Treasury was authorized by Congress to detail
cutters to enforce anchorage regulations in all harbors, rivers, bays
and other navigable waters of United States.

1925-An Act of Congress (43 Stat. L., 1261), for the first
time, provided for disability retirement within the Lighthouse Service.

1929-Congress appropriated $144,000 for seaplanes and equipment for
Coast Guard.

1952-An air detachment consisting of three helicopters and necessary
personnel established as the first unit of its type on a test basis (at
AIRSTA Brooklyn) began operating in support of port
security operations.

1881-The crew of Life-Saving Station No. 10, Ninth District
(Louisville), won acclaim with a dangerous rescue at the wreck of James
D. Parker, a well-known river boat lost in the Indiana chute of the
Ohio Falls. She was a stern-wheel steamer of over 500 tons owned
by the Cincinnati and Memphis Packet Company and bound from Cincinnati
to Memphis. Her crew numbered 50, including the captain, and she
had 55 passengers on board, a number of whom were women and children.

6 March

1896-Secretary of the Treasury was authorized to detail cutters to
enforce anchorage regulations on the St. Mary’s River.

1932-Five members of Station Atlantic City were lost in the line of duty when station personnel responded to the gas screw vessel
Anna and a motor boat in distress off Atlantic City. Two of the
station's boats were lost in the heavy seas: Picket Boat No. 2301
capsized outside the bar while responding to the original distress
situation and then surfboat No. 2301 disappeared while
proceeding to the assistance of the picket boat crew. Lost were: Surfman David A. Barnett, Surfman William R. Garton, MoMM2c (L) William
Graham, Surfman Harold Livingston and BM2c (L) Marvin E. Rhoades.

1998-The Coast Guard commissioned CGC Barracuda (WPB 87301) on this
date in 1998. The new patrol boat was assigned to Eureka,
California. Barracuda was the first vessel of the new 87-foot
Marine Predator class patrol boats built by Bollinger Shipyards for the
Coast Guard to replace the venerable 82-foot Point Class patrol boats.

7 March

1883- A dramatic rescue was performed by the crew of Assateague
Life-Saving Station in Virginia using a surfboat through a howling storm
to save the ten persons stranded on the sinking barkentine Wolverine.

8 March

1942-A Coast Guard aircraft located the lifeboats of SS Arubutan,
which had been sunk by a German U-boat off the North Carolina coast, and
directed CGC Calypso to them.

1963-CGC Eastwind crossed sixty degrees south latitude north-bound
after 126 days in the Antarctic Region as a part of Operation Deepfreeze
63, setting a new record for a single cruise in that area.

1973-The first "Coast Guard-controlled drug seizure" took
place when the cutter Dauntless seized the sport fishing vessel
Big L which was smuggling an "illicit cargo" of one ton of
marijuana.

2015-CGC Alert returned to its homeport of Astoria, Oregon,
following a 61-day counter narcotics patrol off the coast
of Central and South America.
The crew of the 46-year old ship interdicted two suspected
smuggling vessels stopping an estimated 2,300 pounds of cocaine worth
approximately $28 million.
On two separate occasions, the crew found sea turtles entangled
in abandoned fishing gear. The crew’s efforts saved three turtles,
allowing them to swim away unharmed.
Coast Guardsmen aboard also improved their proficiency by
conducting 94 safety and mission specific drills. These exercises
included shipboard emergency response, navigation proficiency, and
live-fire gunnery exercises.

9 March

1928-On 9 March 1928 a pulling surfboat with nine men aboard, under the
command of Boatswain's Mate First Class William Cashman, got underway
from the Manomet Life-Saving to go to the rescue of the steamer
Robert E. Lee. The Lee had grounded on Mary Ann Rocks in
a heavy gale. While returning to the station the surfboat capsized due
to extremely heavy seas, spilling all nine men into the water. Six were
rescued but "Captain" Cashman, Surfman Frank W. Griswold, and Surfman
Edward R. Stark perished in the line of duty in the freezing water.
During the on-going search and rescue operations all 236 passengers and
crew from the Robert E. Lee were saved.

1944-The U-225 torpedoed and sank the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escort USS Leopold
(DE-319) off Iceland.
The attack marked the introduction of a newly developed
acoustic torpedo. All 13 officers and 148 (out of
186) enlisted men on board were killed. The 28 survivors were
rescued by USS Joyce (DE-317), another Coast Guard-manned
destroyer escort.

1946-The Coast Guard-manned LST-767 was damaged in a hurricane
near Okinawa. She was later declared a total loss and was
decommissioned.

1966-CGC Point White, on duty with Coast Guard Squadron One,
Division 13, in Vietnam, captured a Vietcong junk after a running
firefight. Point White was in Vietnam only a month when she
started conducting patrols on a Viet-Cong-controlled area of the Soi Rap River.
Point White used a plan of steaming out of the patrol area and
covertly returning. On 9 March she spotted a junk crossing the
river and attempted to stop it. The junk opened fire with small
arms, including automatic weapons. Point White returned the
fire and rammed the junk, throwing the occupants into the water. The
cutter’s commanding officer, LTJG Eugene J. Hickey, rescued a
survivor who turned out to be a key VC leader of the Rung Sat Secret
Zone. During March, three WPBs of Division 13 killed twenty-seven
VC in action, captured seven more, and confiscated considerable
contraband.

1996-The first "all-Coast Guard" Ceremonial Honor Guard
carried out a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in
Arlington National Cemetery.

10 March

1909-The British barkentine Ladysmith, during a thick
fog, stranded three miles WSW of the Fisher's Island Life-Saving
Station. The keeper was notified by telephone and the life-savers,
in surfboat, proceeded to the scene. They safely rescued the Ladysmith's
master, his wife, and 9 seamen.

1983-The Coast Guard retired the last operational HU-16E Albatross,
ending the "era of seaplanes" for the service.

2015-CGC Polar Star returned to Seattle after a
101-day Antarctic deployment. Polar Star departed Seattle for Operation Deep Freeze 2015,
the military resupply and logistical support mission for the U.S.
Antarctic Program’s McMurdo Station. Polar Star
escorted the cargo vessel Ocean Giant and fuel tanker Maersk Peary to
McMurdo Station through ice ranging in thickness from 5 to 10 feet.
Upon completion of Deep Freeze, Polar Star’s crew rescued 26
fishermen aboard the 207-foot F/V Antarctic Chieftain. The mariners were
trapped in a heavy pack ice near Cape Burks, Antarctica, for almost two
weeks. The crew diverted to provide assistance to the fishermen. After
navigating across 753 miles with 89 miles of treacherous ice conditions,
Polar Star’s crew located the Antarctic Chieftain
and towed the fishing
vessel through 49 miles of pack ice with before transferring the
Antarctic Chieftain to the New Zealand fishing vessel Janas.

11 March

1934-CGC Gresham's small boat crew defeated a
team from the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Danae in a surfboat race
over a two-mile course laid out in Mobile Bay. Gresham and the City
of Mobile had been hosting the British warship since 8 March 1934.

1941-Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act.
Under the auspices of Lend-Lease all 10
of the Coast Guard's famous Lake-class
cutters were transferred to the Royal Navy. Three
were lost in action against Axis forces. These 250-foot cutters
had been designed by the Coast Guard Constructor RADM Frederick A. Hunnewell and featured a slightly raked stem
and a cruiser stern. Their innovative turbine-electric drive power
plant was developed by Coast Guard CAPT Quincy B. Newman. These
were the first ships to have alternating current, synchronous motor for
propulsion--the whole ship ran off the main turbine. The auxiliary
generators were tied into the main generator electrically, after
sufficient speed was attained. At that point, no steam was
required to drive the turbines on the auxiliary generators. The
propulsion plant achieved remarkable efficiency.

2010-CGC Long Island returned to its homeport of Valdez,
Alaska, after providing patrol support to the 2010 Winter Olympics in
Vancouver. Long Island conducted patrols, boardings and
professional exchanges with Navy cruisers, destroyers, multi-agency
aircraft and other Coast Guard units such as high endurance cutters,
patrol boats, Maritime Safety and Security Teams and the Maritime
Security Response Team. The crew transited more than 2,500 miles roundtrip for the mission
including underway maintenance and port calls to Washington state,
Canada and Southeast Alaska. They conducted periodic law enforcement
boardings to ensure vessels were in compliance of all U.S. laws and
regulations to assist their Canadian counterparts. The Coast Guard was the lead for
all U.S. maritime military naval forces supporting the 2010 Winter Olympics and had the dual
responsibility of supporting Canadian Maritime operations while
contributing to the larger Canadian government communications effort in
promoting public confidence and security. Vancouver, British Columbia, hosted
the 2010 Olympics from 12 to 28 February 2010.

12 March

1955-Effective this date, all foreign and domestic ships were
required to give 24-hour advance notice to the local U.S. Coast Guard
Captain of the Port before entering U.S. ports. This order was
designed to improve the U.S. Coast Guard's port security program without
"material inconvenience" to shipping.

1965-This date marked the beginning of the U.S. Navy’s Operation Market Time.
The operation was designedto
interdict the river and coastal water supply lines of Communist forces in South Vietnam. The initiation of this campaign led to the
Navy’s request for Coast Guard vessels and crews to participate in
river and coastal patrols during the Vietnam War.

2012-Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Robert Papp participated in a
ceremony at Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, Louisiana, to dedicate the
new Fast Response Cutter fleet.

13 March

1882-At 7 P.M. the schooner Annie L. Palmer bound for
New York from Baracoa, Cuba, with a cargo of fruit, and a crew of six
persons, stranded about two hundred yards off-shore, one mile north of
Station No. 16, Fourth District, New Jersey. The patrolman
reported it to the keeper. The life-saving crew boarded the vessel
by 8 o’clock and found that she had grounded at low water and could
not be moved until the tide rose. They ran an anchor to keep the
vessel from working farther on, and waited for the flood tide. At
half past 2 the next morning the tide rose and they succeeded in heaving
the vessel off. They then took her to a safe anchorage.

1974-A 200-foot fishing vessel requested evacuation of a
crewman, who had severe headaches from a head injury. The
vessel was directed to proceed to the vicinity of Boston Light Vessel
where upon arrival a motor lifeboat from Coast Guard Station Point
Allerton evacuated the patient to Coast Guard Base Boston. A
waiting ambulance transported the patient to Brighton Hospital.

2000-The Coast Guard announced the successful completion of Operation
New Frontier. New Frontier was an evaluation of the use of
armed helicopters and high-speed small boats to stop small, high-speed
smuggling vessels, referred to as "go-fasts," that smuggled
narcotics to the U.S. Of the six go-fasts detected, all six were
captured. CGCs Gallatin and Seneca took part in the
evaluations.

14 March

1819-The 23 March 1819 edition of the New York Evening Post reported:
"The Artegan Privateer GENERAL ARTIGAS was yesterday brought into
this port. The ARTIGAS sailed from Baltimore about 5 months ago,
commanded by Captain Ford, with a complement of 60 men and 10 guns.
They took no prizes, though they boarded a number of Portuguese vessels
but permitted them to proceed unmolested. She touched at St.
Domingo, there parted her cable in a gale, then proceeded on her cruise.
She sprung a leak and then put into the Chesapeake, the crew then
mutinied and nearly the whole of them left the vessel and went on shore.
She was taken possession of by the Cutter MONROE, March 14, 1819."

1909-At Gloucester, Massachusetts, a launch became disabled 3/4-mile southeast of the life-saving station. Surfmen manned the power lifeboat and
started to assist. On the trip out a schooner was discovered
anchored in a dangerous berth 1-3/4 miles southeast of the station.
Surfmen put a towline on the schooner, and, with her sails drawing, she
was towed into a safe anchorage.

1967-CGC Point Ellis destroyed an enemy trawler in Vietnam.

1987-Coast Guard helicopters rescued the crew of the sinking Soviet
freighter Komsomolets Kirgizii 220 miles off the coast of
New Jersey during a gale. A HC-130 was first on the scene and
stood by the listing freighter until HH-3s from Air Station Cape Cod
arrived and saved the freighter's entire 37-person crew. As a
result of their efforts, President Ronald Reagan presented the Coast
Guardsmen with awards at a ceremony at the White House.

15 March

1942-The 172-foot tender CGC Acacia was en route from
Curacao, Netherlands West Indies to Antigua, British West Indies, when
she was sunk by shellfire from the German submarine U-161.
The entire crew of Acacia was rescued. She was the only
Coast Guard buoy tender sunk by enemy action during the war.

1944-Coast Guardsmen participated in the invasions of Manus
in the Admiralties and Emirau (St. Mathias Islands).

1946-For the first time, Coast Guard aircraft supplemented the
work of the Coast Guard patrol vessels of the International Ice Patrol,
scouting for ice and determining the limits of the ice fields from the
air.

1983-The Coast Guard retired its last HC-131A Samaritan.

1991-F/V Alaskan Monarch became trapped in the
ice-encrusted Bering Sea near St. Paul, Alaska and was in danger of
being swept onto the breakwater rocks outside St. Paul Harbor. CGC Storis and an HH-3 from AIRSTA Kodiak, under the command of
LT Laura H. Guth, responded. After a flight of 600 miles,
including a winter crossing of the Alaska Peninsula and 400 miles of
open water, Guth and her crew rescued four of the six-man crew before
waves crashed over the vessel and swept the two remaining crewmen into
the frigid water. They both were quickly pulled from the water
safely.

1997-Operation Gulf Shield began. This operation
was a counterpart to
the counter-narcotics Operation Frontier Shield.

16 March

1909-At Assateague Beach, Virginia, the schooner
Charley C. Weaver began taking on water.One of the crew notified the keeper that the schooner was
leaking. The life-saving station's surfboat proceeded to the scene, 1-5/8 miles south of the
station. The schooner’s crew was nearly exhausted from a long
spell at the pump. Surfmen shifted her cargo of oysters.
They also tried to locate the leak, but were unsuccessful. They then
went ashore and returned with the power lifeboat which towed the
schooner safely over the bar.

17 March

1863-Revenue cutter Agassiz helped defend the Union-held Fort Anderson at New
Bern, North Carolina, from a Confederate attack.

1902-All but one of the members of the crew of the Monomoy Life-Saving Station perished during the attempted rescue
of the crew of the wrecked coal barge Wadena during a terrible
winter gale. The dead included the keeper of the station, Marshall
N. Eldridge, and six of his surfmen. Eldridge told his crew before
they departed on the rescue that: "We must go, there is a distress
flag in the rigging." The crew of five from the barge also
perished. The sole survivor, Seth L. Ellis, was the number one
surfman of the Monomoy station. He was awarded the Gold Lifesaving
Medal as was the man who rescued him, Captain Elmer Mayo of the barge Fitzpatrick.

1941-CGC Cayuga left Boston with the South Greenland
Survey Expedition on board to locate airfields, seaplane bases, radio
and meteorological stations, and aids to navigation in Greenland.
This was the beginning of the Coast Guard's preeminent role in Greenland
during World War II.

1962-After requesting the evacuation of a seriously injured crewman,
the Russian merchant vessel Dbitelny transferred the patient to
the Coast Guard LORAN station on St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea.
Meanwhile, a Coast Guard aircraft flew a U.S. Navy doctor and a hospital
corpsman there to perform an emergency operation. Afterwards, the
injured man was flown to Elmendorf Air Force Base, where he was admitted
to the U.S. Air Force hospital.

1982- Navy Secretary John Lehman testified before Congress on behalf
of the Coast Guard. He characterized the relationship between the
Navy and the Coast Guard as being "close and warm." He
also praised the new NAVGARD Board, created in November 1980, to
formalize the relationship between the two services.

2015-Following a 61-day deployment on the Hudson River,
CGC Thunder Bay returned to its homeport of
Rockland, Maine after conducting icebreaking operations in
support of Operation Reliable Energy for Northeast Winters. Thunder Bay
deployed mid-January 2015 to coordinate daily ice breaking
operations with CGCs Sturgeon Bay, Willow, Elm, and
Wire
on the Hudson River. In order to keep the channel open to commercial
shipping traffic, Thunder Bay conducted operations seven days a
week, with only occasional days off. The cutter navigated more than 100 river
miles daily and by the end of the season Thunder Bay had sailed
nearly 3000 nautical miles, conducted 554 hours of icebreaking, and made
70 vessel and facility break outs, requiring them to operate an
additional 13 days beyond their original assignment.

18 March

1909-Stations Holly Beach, and Hereford Inlet, New Jersey: the
schooner C.B. parted its chain while weighing anchor. She
set a distress signal which was discovered by the lookouts at both
stations. The surfboats proceeded to the scene and surfmen swept
for the chain and assisted in securing it on board.

1967-The 378-foot high endurance cutter Hamilton,
first in her class, was commissioned. This was the first class of
major vessels in the U.S. government's inventory that were powered by
jet turbines.

1991-CGC Cape Hatteras (WPB 95305) was decommissioned on 18
March 1991. She was the last 95-foot patrol boat in the Coast
Guard. She was then transferred to Mexico.

1996-The single-hulled barge San Gabriel buckled and split
open in rough seas, rupturing two tanks and spilling 210,000 gallons of
oil in the Houston Ship Channel near Galveston, Texas. Coast Guard
Marine Safety Unit Galveston established a joint command structure with
local agencies and private contractors to isolate and then clean up the
spill. Personnel from the Gulf Strike Team, MSO Houston, MSO New
Orleans, Aviation Training Center Mobile, and the 8th District
supplemented MSU Galveston. The majority of the spill was cleaned
up in three days.

2000-CGC Thetis seized F/V VivianaII which
was grossly overloaded with 234 Ecuadorean migrants. The vessel
and the migrants were turned over to the Ecuadorean Navy.

2007- The Coast Guard made the largest cocaine seizure in its history
to date when CGCs Hamilton and Sherman seized 42,845
pound of cocaine aboard the Panamanian-flagged M/V Gatun off the
coast of Panama. Gatun was first located by a HC-130 on
17 March.

19 March

1943-British Steamer Svend Foyne was a victim of an
iceberg collision off the southern tip of Greenland. One hundred
forty-five persons were rescued by the Coast Guard and others.
The International Ice Patrol was suspended during this period (1942-1945)
of World War II.

1945-The first all-Coast Guard hunter-killer group ever established
during the war searched
for a reported German U-boat near Sable Island. The
group was made up of the Coast Guard-manned destroyer escorts USS Lowe,
Menges, Mosley, and Pride, and was under the
overall command of CDR R. H. French, USCG. He flew his pennant from Pride. Off Sable Island the warships located,
attacked and sank the U-866 with the loss of all hands.
Interestingly, the Menges had been a victim of a German acoustic
torpedo during escort-of-convoy operations in the Mediterranean in 1944.
The torpedo had detonated directly under her stern, causing major damage
and casualties, but she remained afloat. She was later towed to
port and the stern of another destroyer escort, one that had been
damaged well forward, was welded onto the Menges. She then
returned to action.

1963-The famous cutter Bear sank off the coast of Nova
Scotia on this date in 1963 while under tow from Halifax to Philadelphia
were she as slated to be "put out to pasture" as a floating
museum-restaurant. The two men who were aboard the old cutter were
rescued after a Coast Guard aircraft dropped a raft to the accompanying
tug.

1989-M/V Aoyagi Maru ran aground on a reef in Lost Harbor,
Alaska. She was declared a total loss after being gutted by fire
when 1,200 pounds of explosives were ignited to burn off the 100,000
gallons of fuel left aboard and her cargo of 74,000 pounds of rotting
cod.

20 March

1929-The most notable incident from which international complications
resulted during the Prohibition era was that of the schooner I’m
Alone of Nova Scotia, a vessel built for the rum trade. She had
successfully plied this trade for over four years when she appeared off
the Texas coast and was picketed by the cutter Wolcott in the
spring of 1929. Boatswain Frank Paul marked her at 10.8 miles from shore
and signaled her to heave to. Several blanks were fired and this brought
the vessel to a stop. Captain Randall of the schooner allowed the
Boatswain on board, there was a discussion, but when he returned, I’m
Alone continued on her way. The chase resumed and shots were fired
into her rigging. On the second morning, some two hundred miles south of
the U.S., the cutter Dexter came up to assist and proceeded to
fire into the runner, sinking the vessel. One of her crew was drowned.
Repercussions were heard immediately from Canada, Britain, and France,
as the drowned seaman was French. The initial complaint was that of the
position of the schooner at the point of contact. Her captain maintained
she was only a 7-knot vessel and she was anchored about 15 miles out in
safe waters. The second infraction was that the pursuit was not a
continuous one, the intervention of Dexter muddied this question.
Since the speed of the suspect vessel is a consideration in determining
how far out it might be seized, it should be noted that I’m Alone managed
to stay ahead of Wolcott, a nearly new cutter capable of at least
11 knots, for over 24 hours. As I’m Alone was sunk, the
captain’s statement that her engines were in need of repair also could
not be proven. In any case, the international round of diplomatic
niceties did not cease until 1935 when the United States backed off and
compensation was paid to the crew of the schooner.

1941-Sabotage was discovered on an Italian vessel at
Wilmington, North Carolina. The Coast Guard investigated all
Italian and German vessels in American ports and took into
"protective custody" 28 Italian vessels, two German and 35
Danish vessels. Coast Guard boarding teams discovered that
their crews had damaged 27 of the Italian ships and one of the German
ships. The Coast Guard also took into custody a total of 850
Italian and 63 German officers and crew. Two months later these
vessels were requisitioned for service with the United States by order
of Congress for the Latin American trade.

21 March

1791-Hopley Yeaton of New Hampshire was commissioned as "Master of a Cutter
in the Service of the United States for the Protection of the Revenue."
He is often listed as the first commissioned seagoing officer of the
United States. His commission was signed by George Washington and attested to by Thomas
Jefferson. However, seven other commissions for officers of the
Revenue Cutter Service were signed on the same date. Yeaton’s claim to being first is
tied to the fact that he is at the top of the list of officers. He commanded the Revenue cutter Scammel, stationed in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire and the list is based on the cutters’ homeports
from north to south. Thus, Yeaton was first on the list, having command of the cutter in the
northernmost port.

1916-On this date Third Lieutenant Elmer Stone, USCG became the first
Coast Guard officer ordered to flight training. He reported on 1
April 1916 to
Pensacola Naval Aviation Training School.

2013-CGC Midgett, returned to its homeport of Seattle,
Washington, after its 75-day counter-narcotics patrol in the eastern
Pacific Ocean. While on patrol in the
eastern Pacific in late February, the crew successfully interdicted a
30-foot fishing vessel that was carrying 1,100 pounds of cocaine hidden
inside the vessel. Midgett’s boarding team confiscated the drugs, and detained the
suspected smugglers. Midgett’s crew also visited Bahia Malaga, Colombia, for a
partnership exercise with the Colombian Navy. The ship hosted the
Colombian Navy's chief of staff, pacific operations commander, and
several other senior personnel for a tour of the ship. After departing Seattle in early
January, 2013, Midgett and its 170-member crew first underwent a
three-week drill in San Diego that included more than 300 training
exercises in navigation, medical response, damage control, engineering,
combat systems, seamanship and anti-terrorism force protection. The
crew's successful performance earned them several battle readiness
awards as well as certification by shipboard training teams.

2014-CGC Polar Star returned to its homeport of Seattle, Washington,
following a 108-day deployment in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2014.
Polar Star originallydeparted
Seattle on 3 December 2013 and made port calls in Honolulu, Sydney,
Australia, McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and Tahiti, French Polynesia. Having completed a
reactivation that began four years ago, this deployment marked the first
time in six years that a U.S. icebreaker provided support to Operation Deep Freeze. In January, 2014,
Polar Star departed Sydney to assist in the rescue effort of two ships,
the Russian vessel Akademik Shokalsiky and the Chinese vessel
Xue Lon. Both of these vessels were beset in 15 feet of sea ice near
Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. While Polar Star was en route to
assist, the shifting ice conditions allowed the two ships to break free from the
ice prior to the Coast Guard icebreaker's arrival. In Antarctica,
Polar Star broke a navigable shipping lane through 12 miles of ice in
McMurdo Sound, encountering ice up to 10 feet in thickness. The shipping
channel was used by the tanker ship Maersk Peary to deliver
approximately three-and-a-half million gallons of fuel to McMurdo. The channel was also used by the cargo ship
Maersk Illinois to deliver more than 500 containers of supplies to
operate McMurdo and South Pole stations for the next 12 months. The crew of the
Polar Star also
delivered and deployed nearly one mile of fuel hose to Marble Point, an
air station 20 miles west of McMurdo. In February, 2014, prior to departing
Antarctica, Polar Star hosted Coast Guard VADM Peter Neffenger, then-Deputy Commandant for Operations, who visited Antarctica to observe the
operations of the U.S. Antarctic Program.

22 March

1794-Congress declared that no American citizen may carry slaves from
the United States to another nation or between foreign nations.

1919-The Acting Secretary of the Treasury advised that light
keepers and the officers and crews of vessels were not entitled to the
benefits of the Public Health Service free of charge after retirement.

1969-ENC Morris S. Beeson, on CGC Point Orient, was killed
in action during a boarding in Vietnam.

2003-Three Iraqi sailors were captured in the northern Persian Gulf,
the first Enemy Prisoners of War (EPOWs) taken by Coast Guard forces
deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 24-member crew
of CGC Adak plucked the Iraqi sailors from the sea after they had
jumped overboard when their patrol boat was destroyed by coalition
forces. The EPOWs were taken aboard Adak and later transferred to an undisclosed location.

23 March

1974-The 40-foot sailing vessel Lorisel II reported she was
aground one mile southeast of North Rock, Bahamas, off the eastern shore
of Bimini. An HU-16 aircraft and CGC Cape Shoalwater
were dispatched to assist. The aircraft located the vessel and a
local island boat was diverted to remove two women and a child
from Lorisel II. Cape Shoalwater re-floated the
vessel, returned the passengers, and the Lorisel II got underway
with no apparent damage.

2001-Two Coast Guardsmen, BM2 Scott Chism and SN
Christopher Ferreby, gave their lives in the line of duty when their
small boat CG-214341 capsized on Lake Ontario. Their loss led to
important changes in the small boat community's training, equipment and
operations.

2008-Two Coast Guard helicopters worked with the F/V Alaska
Warrior to save 42 of 47 crewmen from the sinking F/V Alaska
Ranger in an Easter Sunday blizzard amidst 20-foot waves. There was
flooding in aft steerage of Ranger and the doors would not
close. The ship’s shell was rusty and flat-bottomed, built for Gulf of
Mexico. It was located 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor in the Bering
Sea. CGC Munro's HH-65 Dolphin pulled five fishermen
from the water, three of whom had to be cut free from the netting and
ropes. The HH-60 Jayhawk from St. Paul Station in the
Pribiloff Islands lifted 15 sailors out of the sea and onto the sister
ship, F/V Alaska Warrior. Warrior also saved 22
lives on its own. The crew of Munro received the Coast
Guard Unit Commendation and aviators LT Brian J. McLaughlin, LT Timothy
L. Schmitz, LT Steven M. Bonn, LT Greg S. Gedemer, Petty Officer 2nd
Class O'Brien Hollow, Petty Officer 2nd Class Robert R. DeBolt and Petty
Officer 2nd Class Alfred V. Musgrave received Air Medals.

2012-The 9th Coast Guard District concluded
Operation Taconite, its annual ice-breaking operation in the western Great
Lakes, thereby officially bringing the 2011-2012 icebreaking season to a
close. Under control of Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Operation Taconite was carried
out in Lake Superior, the St. Mary’s River, the Straits of Mackinac, and northern Lake Huron.
Operation Taconite began 21 December 2011. Working together during this
year's ice-breaking season were crews aboard: U.S. Coast Guard Cutters
Mackinaw; Alder; Hollyhock; Mobile Bay;
Neah Bay;
Katmai Bay; Biscayne Bay; and Thunder Bay,
the latter being temporarily assigned to the Great
Lakes from its homeport of Rockland, Maine. Together these eight cutters spent 1,668 hours breaking ice and
assisted more than 60 vessels.

24 March

1909-Muskeget, Massachusetts: the schooner Vigilant
parted moorings, and stranded one mile south of the station. The owner
applied to the keeper at 10:30 p.m. for assistance. Surfmen
proceeded to the scene, carried out an anchor and line, and hove the
schooner into deep water. During the storm the owner was sheltered
and supplied with meals at the station for two days. But for the
security afforded by an additional anchor and cable loaned by the crew, Vigilant
would have stranded a second time.

1920-The Coast Guard established its first air station on this date at Morehead
City, North Carolina. The station was closed on 1 July 1921 due to
a lack of funding.

1989-The tanker Exxon Valdez grounded on a reef in Prince
William Sound, Alaska, spilling 10.1 million gallons of crude oil.
This was the worst oil spill in U.S. history to date. Coast Guard
units responded and prevented the entire cargo from spilling, cleaned up
the oil which did spill, and conducted an investigation into the causes
of the accident. The spill provided the impetus for the passage of
the Oil Protection Act of 1990, which greatly increased the Coast
Guard's role in protecting the nation against spills.

25 March

1911-The Treasury Department directed the keepers of
life-saving stations to keep a lookout through the beach patrol for
stray buoys washed ashore, to secure such buoys when it could be done,
and to report their discovery or action to the nearest representative of
the Lighthouse Service.

26 March

1938-On 26 March 1938 the US Coast Guard motor lifeboat Triumph
departed from the Point Adams Station, located near Hammond, Oregon at
the mouth of the Columbia River. It proceeded out to the bar and
stood by while several crab boats crossed in. The tug Tyee
with a barge load of logs in tow was attempting to cross out. Tyee
passed too close to the life buoy and the barge drifted into the outer
break on Clatsop Spit. Triumph, while attempting to assist Tyee,
lost Surfman Richard O. Bracken overboard in the breakers of Clatsop
Spit. Bracken would have been drowned had it not been for the
skill of BN (L) John F. McCormick, Officer-in-Charge of Triumph,
and the cooperation of the crew, namely CMOMM (L) Albert L. Olsen and
Surfman Harold W. Lawrence. In making the rescue, Triumph
was carried broadside on the face of a wave a distance of approximately
50 yards. The masts had been completely submerged, then the boat
righted itself. Bracken had been washed overboard by the force of
the sea. McCormick, acting with exceptional skill, maneuvered Triumph
against the strong current, into the breakers and picked up the drowning
man. Olsen remained in the engine room during all these maneuvers,
stayed at the controls under perilous conditions, and rendered
commendable service. McCormick was awarded a Gold Life-Saving
Medal for this rescue while Olsen and Lawrence were awarded Silver
Lifesaving Medals.

1945-Coast Guardsmen participated in the landings at Geruma
Shima, Hokaji Shima, and Takashiki in the Ryukyu Islands.

1946-The International Ice Patrol resumed after being suspended
during World War II.

1963-A Coast Guard HH-52 based from Air Station Salem,
Massachusetts, landed in the water off Fort Weatherall, Newport, Rhode
Island to rescue a man overboard from the radar picket ship USS
Protector. "Using the new platform, the crew of the HH-52A
retrieved the man, helpless and incoherent, from 39-[degree] F waters.
He was flown to the Naval Hospital, Quonset Point without incident.
This is the first rescue fully exploiting the unique capabilities of the
new HH-52A helicopter."

27 March

1943-CG-85006 (ex-Catamount) exploded off Ambrose Light
while on Coastal Picket patrol duty. Of a total of ten crew
members on board, four drowned while five were reported missing.
Only the commanding officer, CBM Garfield L. Beal, USCG, escaped.
He was picked up six hours later by a passing merchant ship. The
cause of the explosion was never ascertained.

1964-An earthquake which hit 9.2 on the Richter scale
and an ensuing tsunami struck Alaska, killing 125 people and causing
$311 million in property damage. Coast Guard units responded in what
was called "Operation Helping Hand." Within two hours of the
earthquake, which began at 1732 local time, CGCs Storis,
Minnetonka, and Sorrel were ordered to Prince William
Sound; Bittersweet to Seward; and Sedge to Valdez.
"The following morning, three fixed-wing aircraft from Air
Detachment Kodiak surveyed the damage while helicopters evacuated those
in need. By March 31, most of the direct assistance had been
rendered and the task of repair and clean up began. Approximately
360 civilians were evacuated from villages and isolated areas in Kodiak
Island and Prince William Sound. Storis was diverted to
Cook Inlet for icebreaking duties in the Port of Anchorage until 18
April." [Kenneth Arbogast, et al, The U.S. Coast Guard in Kodiak, Alaska,
p. 15.] A number of the Coast Guard stations in the area sustained
damage, some of it severe. The only Coast Guard fatality occurred
when the tsunami struck the light station at Cape St. Elias and one
crewman, EN3 Frank O. Reed, was swept out to sea and perished.

2003-During Operation Iraqi Freedom CGC Wrangell, homeported in Portland,
Maine, along with a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air
Station Honolulu, escorted the first waterborne humanitarian aid
shipment into the port of Umm Qasr without incident, while members of
Coast Guard Port Security Unit 311, from San Pedro, Calif., assisted
other coalition forces protecting the harbor. The shipment,
consisting of vital aid donated by numerous countries, was carried
aboard the British ship RFA Sir Galahad.

28 March

1963-Three new 44-foot Motor Lifeboats departed
the Coast Guard Yard for their designated stations. Two were
assigned to stations in the Third Coast Guard District: Sandy Hook
Lifeboat Station and Eatons Neck Lifeboat station while the third was
assigned to Chatham Lifeboat Station in the First Coast Guard District.

1968-The Secretary of Transportation released his Report on
Recreational Boat Safety. The report contained a detailed
explanation of the proposed legislation and the programs the department
intended to undertake.

1993-A Colonial Pipeline Company pipe ruptured, spilling 400,000
gallons of diesel fuel into the Sugarland Run creek in Herndon,
Virginia. The EPA requested the assistance from the National
Strike Force. Other units mobilized for the clean-up operation
included a helicopter from AIRSTA Cape May, an air-eye HU-25 from AIRSTA
Cape Cod, personnel from MSO Baltimore, CGC Capstan, and
reservists from the region. The strike team used the new DESMI 250
skimmer and pump to control the spill. Coast Guardsmen assisted
with the cleanup and safety operations as well as provided technical
assistance. By 2 April, Colonial Pipeline, who claimed
responsibility for the spill, had more than 250 contract personnel
handling cleanup operations. The strike teams stayed on site to
monitor the cleanup. The last strike team member left the spill
site on 10 April.

29 March

1867-The lighthouse at Timbalier Bay was destroyed in a hurricane.
The brick tower "was leveled to the ground and covered with from
three to six feet of water." The Lighthouse Board commended
the keepers, "who faithfully performed their duty, barely escaping
with their lives, and living for some days in an iron can buoy . .
."

1898- Lieutenants David Jarvis and Ellsworth P. Bertholf
and Surgeon Dr. Samuel J. Call of the Revenue cutter Bear reached Point Barrow,
Alaska, after a 2,000 mile "mush" from Nunivak Island that
first started on 17 December 1897, driving reindeer as food for 97
starving whalers caught in the Arctic ice. This Overland Rescue
was heralded by the press and at the request of President William
McKinley, Congress issued special gold medals in their honor.

1938-By an Executive Order of this date President Franklin
Roosevelt enlarged substantially the number of "personnel in the
Lighthouse Service who are subject to the principle of the civil
service," which allowed advancement in the Service based solely on
individual merit.

1984-Coast Guard AIRSTA Cape May and Group Cape May responded to
severe flooding in southern New Jersey and Delaware after a late winter
storm struck the area on 29 March 1984. Coast Guardsmen evacuated
149 civilians from Cape May and Atlantic City.

1985-The last lightship in service with the Coast Guard, CGC Nantucket
I, was decommissioned, thus ending 164 years of continuous
lightship service by the U.S. Government. Nantucket I was
the last of the U.S. lightships and the last of the Nantucket Shoals
lightships that watched over that specific area since June of 1854.
Launched as WLV-612 in 1950 at Baltimore, the ship also stood watch as
the light vessel for San Francisco and Blunts Reef in California, at
Portland, Oregon, and finally at Nantucket Shoals.
Nantucket I also spent time in service as a "less-than-speedy" law
enforcement vessel off Florida.

2005-The keel was laid for the first of the new 418-foot National Security
Cutters, CGC Bertholf (WMSL-750), named for Commodore Ellsworth Bertholf,
former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. Bertholf was
constructed at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The cutter was christened on 11 November 2006 after being launched on 29
September 2006. The Coast Guard commissioned Bertholf on
4 August 2008.

30 March

1867-The United States signed the Alaska purchase treaty with Russia.

1942-By Presidential proclamation, the Coast Guard was designated as
a service of the Navy to be administered by the Commandant of Coast
Guard under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, similar to the
administration of the Marine Corps.

31 March

1932-The United States signed a Whaling Convention at Geneva with 21
other countries.

1934-At high noon on 15 March 1934 CGC Tuscarora fired a shot from
one of its batteries, a shot that started the fifth international St.
Petersburg to Havana racing classic. Tuscarora served as the
official Coast Guard escort for the race.

1948-The Tenth District, with headquarters at San Juan, Puerto Rico
and comprising of the Panama Canal Zone, all of the island possessions
of the United States pertaining to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands,
and all United States reservations in the islands of the West Indies and
on the north coast of South America, was abolished, and its functions,
responsibilities, and facilities were transferred to and combined with
the Seventh District, with headquarters at Miami, Florida.

1995-Coast Guard Communication Area Master Station Atlantic sent a
final message by Morse Code and then signed off, officially ending more
than 100 years of telegraph communication.

2008-On 31 March 31 2008, the U.S. Coast Guard took
delivery of its first Response Boat–Medium (RB-M) from
Marinette Marine Corporation Following completion
of underway trials on 17 March 2008 near Tacoma,
Washington, RB-M
45601 was trailered cross-country for delivery in
Portsmouth, Virginia. After one week of familiarization for
the Coast Guard Transition Team (responsible for
facilitating the introduction of the planned 180 boats
to the fleet) Station Little Creek, Virginia took
delivery of RB-M 45601 on 7 April 2008. The RB-M
acquisition was initiated to replace the aging 41’ Utility Boats and
other Non-Standard Boats. The RB-M is a self-righting, 45-foot
all-aluminum boat with twin diesel engines and water jet propulsion.